


i want to say (hello)

by Consulted_moriarty



Category: BLURRYFACE - Twenty One Pilots (Album), Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Dark, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-08
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 01:35:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6779917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Consulted_moriarty/pseuds/Consulted_moriarty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>i'm all you have.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i want to say (hello)

_i'm all you have._

**T** hat's not true. **N** ot true at all.

_really, tyler? who else is here when you fall? who else kisses the cuts and scrapes all better?_

_\---_

the first time tyler joseph sees the materialization of his one company, it is around three am on a winter day. he knew it'd be a snow day, maybe one spent playing out in the yard with his siblings. he knew when the wind had started the night before, when he rested his head on his pillow. the feeling of relief eased him to his slumber, the promise that a white blanket would halt the world for a day or so.

what wakes him is not the storm outside. he thinks it is initially, maybe that a window had opened and blown in waves of white. but that wasn't it, that wasn't the color. dark, dark, dark. tyler blinks hard, squinting around the room.

'hello?' he whispers, tugging tan blankets up to his chin. 'who's there?' tyler whispers, hoping it's his sister looking for a break from a nightmare. his dreams hadn't been anything of the sort, waves of blue and green consuming his tender soul and breaking him from his day's burdens.

_tyler._

there's a response, but tyler's not sure if he hears it or he _thinks_ he hears it. he feels a scorpion of fear poking up his spine, making him roll over to crush it dead. tyler hums into the wall, eyes closed and thoughts falling back to the slumber he had once tasted of. he feels a slight shift of the bed, perhaps a settling of the house. it's not until the blankets lift that his eyes open again. it has to be his sister. but she always wakes him before asking to climb into his bed. tyler swallows. maybe zack? he shifts slowly, stopped when...well, he can't turn his head.

_don't look. look and you will scream._

it sounds threatening, it really does. tyler's eyes prick with tears, a fear response. trapped. he wishes he could slip between the mattress and the wall, hide under the bed like the little girl in Alien two. Hiding from the monsters. But there's no monsters. Mama says there isn't.

_there is. but i am not one of them. i am you._

tyler shakily breathes out, fighting what feels like five cold fingers against his cheek and looking over his shoulder. there's an outline, a frame. a belief. someone.

'why are you here?' he whispers, his voice pinched and nervous. 'in my room? who are you?'

_you. you. you._

tyler sits up and the shadow follows. he gasps, leaning back towards the wall and shaking his head.

'you're scaring me.' tyler warns, voice shaky. he reaches out, thinking the other might just be a hallucination. or a bad dream still in his present. how does tyler check that? he scrunches his nose before pinching his fingers on either side, holding his breath. that'd do it, right? he'd wake up? he closes his eyes, his cheeks puffed and his face warming. he feels his chest sinking in, darkness wrapping around his head.

tyler suddenly lets go, gasping and opening his eyes wide. maybe it is a dream, he thinks, and maybe he's just woken up. the sheets next to him lie flat, the pillow undisturbed. no one is there.

but somebody had been.

\---

oh, it's really been such a horrible day. tyler's fallen sick when he wakes next and he finds out that he _did_ in fact leave his window open all night. he thinks that all that happened was a result of the impending cold and his mother agrees when she perches on the edge of his bed while a thermometer reads out his raging fever. she huffs a breath and hands over cold medicine before kissing tyler's forehead, promising some soup when he's ready to eat.

tyler sleeps for like an hour or two. he doesn't dream, but that's fine by him.

when he wakes, it's to throw up. well, nothing comes up. he almost wishes something had. tyler's slumped against the wall, cradled in the corner near the toilet. he's crying, only because he's frustrated and no one is there to see. his eyes are on the four bulbs over the bathroom sink, admiring the last one on the right. it's out. he wonders why. not...why it's out. not the technical facts, that it burnt out or whatever. he wonders _why_ it's out. why don't the materials continue on? why doesn't the light continue?

_you're reading into this._

tyler's joined by a familiar voice, one he's heard in the early morning before his cold had set in.

'go away,' he groans, tipping his head back to the wall and bringing a hand to rub his face. 'it's weird. you here. i'm trying to be miserable.' tyler confesses, smirking slightly. he thinks...maybe he's allowed to speak his mind.

_you are allowed to speak your mind._

a promise? tyler frowns, glancing around the bathroom. peach tile and white walls. the bathroom's so cute, really. but it's cluttered with towels hanging on racks and on the ground nearest the tub. tyler crawls towards the tub, resting his chin on the edge. he almost smiles, spotting his warped reflection in the faucet of the tub. the metal plating behind the knob offers a slanted facial expression and tyler frowns before giggling at how silly it looks.

'why do we gotta get sick?' tyler wonders, sniffling and wiping his nose on the back of his hand. he makes a face when he pulls away moisture, moving to stand and approach the sink. tyler washes his hands, drying him on a baby blue towel. it's his towel, his favorite. and the softest, tyler thinks.

_wish i could feel it._

tyler stops drying his left hand, looking over his shoulder. how come it's really a voice on its own? how come he's hearing it more than thinking it.

'um. why...can't you?' there's no answer and tyler frowned before looking back at the mirror. he gasps, a shade of himself standing right behind his shoulder. well, it looks like him anyways. his height with messy hair and same pajamas. but the eyes...oh, the eyes! he shivers, whipping around to look at whoever is standing right behind him. no one? tyler shakes his head, hustling out of the bathroom and making sure the door's closed.

he crawls into bed, hiding under the covers and whimpering at how horrible he feels. he can hear his siblings laughing downstairs, hear the clinking of silverware against plates.

he feels lonely.

\---

that sad thought is the same one he wakes up with sometime in the early afternoon. tyler's mom has a hand on his shoulder even though he's still curled up under the covers. he surfaces, gasping in a fresh sweat and squinting when the colder air of his room nips around his hairline. tyler looks over at his mom and groans, really putting on a show over the whole sickness. he can see the sunlight streaming in behind her from the split between his window curtains. that means the snow is melting, tyler concludes, which means he has to go to school tomorrow if he's not still insanely sick.

but he will be, dramatic effects or not. his mom voices just that before pointing to the steaming cup of soup resting on his nightstand.

'try to stomach some of this,' tyler's mom insists before kissing his head and wandering out of the room.

tyler tries, he really does, but he ends up in the bathroom again. the soup doesn't stay down, which tyler thinks must be because of the fever. he curls up in the blanket he dragged in with him, leaning against the wall and staring towards the shower. this time, he's only turned one light on and it's inside that space. so the bathroom's dimly lit, the light soothing on his pounding head.

he feels so lonely. the feeling falls in on his chest, weighing his veins with boulders. he chews his lip, trying to name three friends from school who'd miss him tomorrow. only one name pops up. but even josh hasn't sent him a text. there's obviously no foreseeable person caring.

_i care._

tyler huffs a breath, rolling his eyes.

 **S** ure you do. He thinks that back, his lips chapped and sealed shut. maybe the voice will shut up. maybe tyler doesn't want the voice to shut up.

_you should shower. it'd make you feel better._

tyler rolls his eyes, making a small noise of protest. he gets up anyways and stumbles into the running water, shivering until it warms up enough to soothe his shivering limbs.

sleep doesn't come as easy, but it does. when tyler wakes up next, his entire household is gone for work and school and he's left to stumble his way into a bowl of cereal. but even that doesn't interest him, he's poured the bowl full of colorful pebbles and the carton of milk is in hand but...he doesn't get much further. just the sight makes his tummy sick. so instead he sits at the kitchen table, head resting on his arms. tyler sniffles occasionally, eyes closed.

his mom must have come home, because she's rubbing gentle circles over tyler's back. it helps coax tyler back to sleep. it's weird, tyler thinks, because there's a note on the fridge from his mom saying she's working late and there's leftovers in the fridge. so, like, who's there?


End file.
